Cristiano Ronaldo is in the limelight, again. Amid years of involvement in the GOAT debate, the Portuguese captain has attracted plenty of attention for his global influence on and off the pitch. Back in the day, Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson, took a controversial but humorous dig at the soccer icon and his gigantic followers count on Instagram, claiming them to be bought!

Over the years, CR7 has been one of the most influential athletes, if not the most influential celebrity in the world, with more than 623 million Instagram followers. But the Rock’s humorous swipe at its authenticity never gets old. An old video from 2021 has shown him saying, “Oh my God! He’s been paying for his followers for years,” when asked if he had any message for the Al Nassr captain. Soon after saying that, he clarified he was joking with a big smile on his face. Keeping this comment aside, what prompted the Rock to think of this in specific?

With more context on the matter, irrespective of followers, Cristiano Ronaldo overtook the Rock in 2021, making him the most-paid person on Instagram. It was estimated that CR7 made $1.6 million per post while The Rock was second at $1.52 million per post. In 2020, the Hollywood artist was estimated to be at the top of the list, earning $1.15 million. Meanwhile, Ronaldo picked up rapidly in terms of followers.

In 2022 November, the Portuguese captain became the first ever celebrity on Instagram to cross the 500 million mark, which was 124 million more than his archrival Lionel Messi. Rock, at that time, was 5th with 348 million followers. In addition, even now the numbers did not seem to have changed with Rock stuck at 5th with 397 million.

Additionally, Ronaldo’s Facebook page also holds the record for having the most followers with 168 million. However, he misses out on X with Elon Musk and a few others ahead of him. Nevertheless, on and off the field, CR7’s influence has been limitless.

Cristiano Ronaldo takes his influence beyond social media!

Having a dominant presence online, the 5-time UEFA Champions League winner has used his influence to help the beautiful game grow too. Penning down a $500 million deal, Cristiano Ronaldo changed the face of the Saudi league, leading a mass transfer exodus of a few top names from Europe. The Saudi League was able to bring then-Ballon d’Or holder Karim Benzema apart from the Brazilian superstar Neymar. Additionally, players like Sadio Mane and treble winners Aymeric Laporte and Riyadh Mahrez also took the route of the maestro.

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That was not it. To back his expensive deal, Ronaldo also became 2023’s top goalscorer with 54 goals. This performance helped his team, Al Nassr stay in contention for the AFC Champions League and the Saudi league title. But the 39-year-old is even more hungry and not ready to stop here. Revealing that he has many targets to achieve, the player confessed that he will not hang his boots up yet. Overall, despite all the talk, the striker still makes his presence felt with an electric attitude and this is also the reason for the large fan following.

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